St. Martin's Church, Biberach
Encyclopedia
Biberach an der Riß
Biberach is a town in the south of Germany. It is the capital of Biberach district, in the Upper Swabia region of the German state of Baden-Württemberg...
, in the Upper Swabia
Upper Swabia
Upper Swabia is a region in Germany in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. The name refers to the area between the Swabian Alb, Lake Constance and the Lech...
region of the German state (Land) of Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
. It is the oldest still active Simultaneum
Simultaneum
A shared church, or Simultankirche, Simultaneum or, more fully, simultaneum mixtum, a term first coined in 16th century Germany, is a church in which public worship is conducted by adherents of two or more religious groups. Such churches became common in Europe in the wake of the Reformation...
or shared church in Germany.
History
Reformation
- Movements :* Protestant Reformation, an attempt by Martin Luther to reform the Roman Catholic Church that resulted in a schism, and grew into a wider movement...
. With the conversion of almost the entire population of the town to Lutheran Protestantism, the church was used for Lutheran services. Then, in 1548 the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
ordered that Catholic services be resumed. The solution was to divide the church, with Catholic services held in the former choir and Lutheran services in the larger nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
. The arrangement was made permanent by the Peace of Augsburg
Peace of Augsburg
The Peace of Augsburg, also called the Augsburg Settlement, was a treaty between Charles V and the forces of the Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Lutheran princes, on September 25, 1555, at the imperial city of Augsburg, now in present-day Bavaria, Germany.It officially ended the religious...
.
For centuries, the two denominations' use of the church was regulated by the time of day. Catholics used the church from 5am to 6am, Lutherans from 6 to 8, Catholics again from 8 to 11, Lutherans from 11 to 12, and so on through the day. Catholics could use all parts of the church during their hours, although there were too few in Biberach to fill the church, while Lutherans were restricted to the nave except during the Lord's Supper
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
when they were allowed to use the choir. The tower bells were rung by each denomination in turn.
During times of religious strife, the sharing of the church became tense. in 1638, during the Thirty Years War, someone blew his nose into the Catholic vessel containing Holy water
Holy water
Holy water is water that, in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Oriental Orthodoxy, and some other churches, has been sanctified by a priest for the purpose of baptism, the blessing of persons, places, and objects; or as a means of repelling evil.The use for baptism and...
. The Catholics retaliated by locking the door to the choir, making it impossible for the Protestants to follow their usual custom of having the Lutheran pastor celebrate Holy Communion while standing in the choir. The next year, a Catholic rang the bells to disrupt the wedding of a prominent Lutheran couple underway in the nave. A crowd gathered and a riot ensued large enough to be investigated by an imperial commission, which resolved issues surrounding shared use of the church.
Interior and art
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
style in 1746. The richly carved, gothic, early 16th century choir stalls were preserved when most of the interior decorations were removed during the iconoclasm
Iconoclasm
Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes...
of the Reformation.
The ceiling frescoes were created during the renovation by Johannes Zick
Johannes Zick
Johannes Zick was a German painter of frescoes in southern Germany and active during the Baroque period...
, who included a self-portrait. The frescoes in the Lutheran area, the nave, depict the life of Jesus, the wise men
Biblical Magi
The Magi Greek: μάγοι, magoi), also referred to as the Wise Men, Kings, Astrologers, or Kings from the East, were a group of distinguished foreigners who were said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh...
and shepherds at the Nativity
Nativity of Jesus
The Nativity of Jesus, or simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus in two of the Canonical gospels and in various apocryphal texts....
, the circumcision
Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, which falls on 2 February, celebrates an early episode in the life of Jesus. In the Eastern Orthodox Church and some Eastern Catholic Churches, it is one of the twelve Great Feasts, and is sometimes called Hypapante...
, Jesus among the scribes, and the events of Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
and Pentecost
Pentecost
Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
. The frescoes in the Catholic area, or choir, are of the Roman Catholic theme of the Church triumphant
Church militant and church triumphant
In Christian theology, the Christian Church, or Church Universal, is traditionally divided into:*the Church Militant , comprising Christians on earth who are living; christian militia, who struggle against sin, devil and "..the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in...
, they depict the Evangelists
Four Evangelists
In Christian tradition the Four Evangelists are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four Gospel accounts in the New Testament that bear the following titles:*Gospel according to Matthew*Gospel according to Mark...
, the Fathers of the Church,the Archangel Michael, and the Virgin Mary being crowned with the Papal Tiara
Papal Tiara
The Papal Tiara, also known incorrectly as the Triple Tiara, or in Latin as the Triregnum, in Italian as the Triregno and as the Trirègne in French, is the three-tiered jewelled papal crown, supposedly of Byzantine and Persian origin, that is a prominent symbol of the papacy...
by angels.
Between the Catholic choir area and the Protestant nave is a large clock, with two faces, one visible from each part of the shared church.